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Niggardly vs Miserly - What's the difference?

niggardly | miserly |

As adjectives the difference between niggardly and miserly

is that niggardly is withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly while miserly is like a miser; very covetous; stingy; cautious with money.

As an adverb niggardly

is in a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.

niggardly

English

(Controversies about the word "niggardly")

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.
  • * Bishop Hall
  • Where the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly .
  • * 1919 ,
  • They were not niggardly , these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest.
  • * 1958 , , The Affluent Society (1998 edition), ISBN 9780395925003, p. 186:
  • This manifests itself in an implacable tendency to provide an opulent supply of some things and a niggardly yield of others.

    Synonyms

    * miserly, stingy. * See also

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In a parsimonious way; sparingly, stingily.
  • *, New York 2001, p.105:
  • because many families are compelled to live niggardly , exhaust and undone by great dowers, none shall be given at all, or very little […].

    Usage notes

    * This term may cause offence as it is easily misinterpreted to be an adverbial form of the racial epithet (nigger). Racist Language, Real and Imagined , Steven Pinker. February 2, 1999. The New York Times (editorial). The two words are etymologically unrelated.

    References

    See also

    * (Controversies about the word "niggardly")

    miserly

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Like a miser; very covetous; stingy; cautious with money
  • Synonyms

    * See also * See also